Courses approved for general education credit must provide students with explicit instruction in the approved student learning outcomes . Please be as specific as possible in your explanations, describing topics, readings, assignments, activities and assessments that illustrate how the course supports students’ acquisition of the learning outcomes.
Remember, there may be no one on the review committees who has any knowledge of your discipline. Attach the course syllabus and any assignments and/or assessments needed to support your explanations.
D4 Goal: Courses meeting this requirement must apply the research findings of the social sciences to significant contemporary problems and emphasize advanced writing and information literacy skills.
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of and ability to accurately apply disciplinary concepts of the social or behavioral sciences to the study of human behavior, individually and in society:
Explain and use at least two standard or basic theories and models
Define and use key disciplinary terms
Explain and critique professional applications of disciplinary concepts
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of and the ability to effectively conduct or plan research using an inquiry method of the social or behavioral sciences.
Identify key research issues and conduct an appropriate literature review
Write research-based hypotheses or research questions
Collect data or use existing data to address important social issues
Analyze data or describe how data should be analyzed
3. Students will explain in writing, using examples, how human diversity and the diversity of human societies influence our understanding of individual and collective human behavior.

4. Students will demonstrate advanced skills in oral and written argument in the social or behavioral sciences. (Possible topic areas include: biomedical and health issues, socio-economic class, crime, discrimination, education, energy, environment, gender, global economy, immigration, military intervention abroad, poverty, race, technology.) See description of writing components below.
5. Applicants should describe how the course will assist students in developing advanced information competence (See outcomes attached.)

Advanced Information Literacy Outcomes for GE Areas
B6 Outcomes for Advanced Information Literacy in Science
D4 Outcomes for Advanced Information Literacy in the Social Sciences
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Whether taught within a specific discipline or in a multi-disciplinary context, advanced information literacy curricula should encourage students to seek multiple perspectives and use diverse sources of information to inform conclusions. Further, students should develop an understanding that information and knowledge in any discipline is in part a social construction and is subject to change as a result of ongoing dialog and research. Teaching advanced information literacy helps students understand and participate in this scholarly conversation.
Faculty can enhance student information literacy by providing problem- or inquiry-based assignments where learning results from the use of multiple information sources thereby encouraging self-directed learning and critical thinking. The development and evaluation of these types of assignments may require significant commitment and investment of time on the part of students and faculty alike.
In addition to the lower division information literacy outcomes, students who are information literate at the advanced level are able to:
1.
identify the main disciplines, fields, and organizations which generate and publish knowledge in their area of research,
2.
develop in-depth knowledge of the literature from the above information producers in their area of research,
3.
evaluate the significance and validity of information found, both in the context of the disciplines and fields consulted, and also within their own knowledge base and value systems,
4.
analyze the implications of research and publishing patterns in their area of research,
5.
formulate and reformulate research inquiries based on the objectives above and,
6.
demonstrate their ability to perform the above objectives when they communicate the results of their inquiry to others.
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This quote and other ideas contained here are drawn from the Council of Australian University
Librarians’ Information Literacy Standards , (Canberra, 2001) and from Learning for Life:
Information Literacy Framework & Syllabus published by the Queensland University of
Technology Library (Brisbane, 2001).

Outcomes for upper division General Education writing components build on the lower division learning outcomes acquired in English 1001 and 1002. When Cal State Hayward students complete their upper division general education requirements, they should possess the fundamental reading and writing competencies described for lower division and the rhetorical knowledge and writing process skills described below:
Rhetorical Knowledge
Students should

Use writing for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating

Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources, and incorporating peer and instructor feedback into revisions

Integrate their own ideas with those of others

Practice the ethics of academic writing and of accuracy in the use of evidence
Writing Processes
Students should

Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text

Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading

Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to re-think and revise their work

Learn to critique their own and others’ works
For D4 Upper Division Social Science— A 4-unit upper division course applying the research findings of the social sciences to significant contemporary problems and emphasizing advanced writing and information literacy skills.
In addition to the knowledge and process outcomes above, students should

Compose written work that manifests the key features of writing in the discipline (such as a proposal and literature review)

Incorporate research into written work, including summarizing, paraphrasing, and properly quoting and citing material from other sources
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Faculty can support student acquisition of advanced writing skills by helping students learn
 The main features of writing in their fields
 The main uses of writing in their fields
 The expectations of readers in their fields
 The uses of writing as a critical thinking method
 The interactions among critical thinking and writing